At the outset of his career Ted Hughes described letter-writing as 'excellent training for conversation with the world', and he was to become a prolific master of this art which combines writing and talking. This selection begins when Hughes was seventeen, and documents the course of a life at once resolutely private but intensely attuned to other lives (including a readership comprising both adults and children); a life pared down to essentials and yet eventful, peripatetic, at times publicly controversial.
Letters of Ted Hughes
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"'This is a book, like the letters of Keats, which will be read in 200 years' time.' Philip Hensher, Spectator 'This year's most surprising and rewarding book.' Blake Morrison, Guardian 'Reid's succinct annotation allows the full, unique personality to blaze out unimpeded, and the result is magnificent.' John Carey, Sunday Times"
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A major Faber publication for Autumn 2007
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
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95 of 101 people found the following review helpful
By ILONACAT
Format:Hardcover
The poet Ted Hughes experienced the sort of vilification in the second part of his life more appropriate to a war-criminal. His first wife Sylvia Plath committed suicide, as did his partner Assia Wevill. There is ample evidence that both Plath and Wevill were psychologically disturbed before either of them ever set eyes on TH but, it would seem, Ted Hughes had to be vilified. Maybe it's human nature to want a villain. It is certainly human nature to be curious about other people's lives. But if you come to this book with the desire to gawp, or to slaver over juicy (and unedifying) facts, you will find little of interest.
If, on the other hand, you are aware of TH as a poet, there is much here to fascinate and enjoy. Throughout his life he corresponded with a large number of people. There are letters here to his own relatives, to his children Frieda and Nicholas (both as children and as adults), to several great friends whom he met in the 1950s in Cambridge and, yes, there are some love-letters (one is given to understand they are not ALL here. And why should they be ? We don't OWN the man.) There are also letters, as one would expect, to other literary figures : Seamus Heaney, Thom Gunn, Yehuda Amichai the Israeli poet who Ted Hughes befriended in the Sixties and whose work he promoted. The picture that emerges is of a deeply intelligent and well-read individual who thought much on subjects such as the environment (before it was a la mode), shamanism, the role of education, the importance of Shakespeare,etc. etc. He worked closely with several Eastern European poets-Holub, Popa, Pilinszky, Csokits, Herbert-at a time when these literatures were scarcely known in Britain. And he was passionately committed to the young, very encouraging, never patronizing. Receiving a letter from him must have been an experience.
These letters are worth reading and then re-reading .They don't give one the feeling that one is prying into someone's dirty laundry. They are not heavily edited. Though some of them are heartbroken and some of them are angry, they do not present a picture of a victim. Or of someone who deserves to be vilified. The vilifiers will no doubt continue their vilifying. Let 'em. These letters will carry on shining.
If, on the other hand, you are aware of TH as a poet, there is much here to fascinate and enjoy. Throughout his life he corresponded with a large number of people. There are letters here to his own relatives, to his children Frieda and Nicholas (both as children and as adults), to several great friends whom he met in the 1950s in Cambridge and, yes, there are some love-letters (one is given to understand they are not ALL here. And why should they be ? We don't OWN the man.) There are also letters, as one would expect, to other literary figures : Seamus Heaney, Thom Gunn, Yehuda Amichai the Israeli poet who Ted Hughes befriended in the Sixties and whose work he promoted. The picture that emerges is of a deeply intelligent and well-read individual who thought much on subjects such as the environment (before it was a la mode), shamanism, the role of education, the importance of Shakespeare,etc. etc. He worked closely with several Eastern European poets-Holub, Popa, Pilinszky, Csokits, Herbert-at a time when these literatures were scarcely known in Britain. And he was passionately committed to the young, very encouraging, never patronizing. Receiving a letter from him must have been an experience.
These letters are worth reading and then re-reading .They don't give one the feeling that one is prying into someone's dirty laundry. They are not heavily edited. Though some of them are heartbroken and some of them are angry, they do not present a picture of a victim. Or of someone who deserves to be vilified. The vilifiers will no doubt continue their vilifying. Let 'em. These letters will carry on shining.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
So much has been written about 'the life', 'the lives' and of course 'the death'. Here is the man himself, raw, flawed and magnificent. His letters to his daughter on creative writing technique I found especially useful. This is one of the few books I own that I keep permanently beside my bed.
Stephanie Zia author of
Ten Good Reasons To Lie About Your Age (Romantic Comedy)
Stephanie Zia author of
Ten Good Reasons To Lie About Your Age (Romantic Comedy)
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This comprehensive selection of Hughes' letters reveals many aspects of his thinking and the stimulation he found to write his outstanding poetry.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful set of letters
Long a reader of his poetry, I'd discovered something of the power of Hughes' letters when some excerpts appeared in "The Silent Woman" by Janet Malcolm, an account of some of the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Henners
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Enhughesiastic" support for this text
Many people know many aspects of the late Ted Hughes; few know his prolific outpouring of letters to all those who knew him, his interest in others' ideas and his willingness... Read more
Published 21 months ago by RR Waller
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is a paperback edition, not hardcover - Amazon incorrectly...
Please be aware that Amazon are listing this edition as hardcover, when it is actually paperback. An ISBN search will confirm this. (Paperback edn: 9780571221394. Read more
Published 22 months ago by NB
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